Let The Theme Park War Begin!

02Jun07

If you paid any attention to the news on Thursday, you know that Universal Orlando Resort and Warner Bros. announced plans to open The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure in 2009.  This is big news, folks…if you haven’t heard this by now, you’re missing out on one of the greatest things to happen in the theme park industry…ever.

Not only is this good for Universal, but its also good for Orlando as a whole.  The Orlando economy depends mostly on its tourism outlets–Universal, Disney, Sea World…its the main source of economic growth for this city.  Bringing the biggest franchise in the world to the city is not only going to bring the city a greater amount of money, but its also going to continue moving Orlando into the “number one destination in the world” direction.  Something that Orlando really wants–something that it really needs, as well.

But, many people don’t see what kind of impact this will have internally on the theme park industry.  On Thursday, a war began between Universal and Disney.  Not the same war that has been running since Universal opened its gates in 1990, but, a brand new war–a war for franchising.

Think about it this way–Universal now has the biggest franchise in the world for its own personal use.  It also has the technology to use the Kuka arm, an innovative ride system, to use exclusively for the next ten years.  This new technology will more than likely be used in the new “state-of-the-art” attraction that Universal keeps bragging about but not telling us about (with good reason).  The way Universal’s new CEO, Bill Davis, is handling the resort–Disney may finally have some good competition in 2009.

That’s not to say Universal wasn’t good competition before for the mouse…but it could be better.  By bringing Harry Potter to Universal, they can increase their “clicks” (the technical term for number of people entering through the turnstiles at the front of the park) from about 4.9 million a year to maybe even 8-10 million.  Harry Potter is quite the franchise to be getting–and after seeing the concept art for the new island the other day, I think its safe to say Universal is doing something quite right.

But what can Disney do to strike back?  Jim Hill (www.jimhillmedia.com), one of the most trusted sources in theme parks and other related industries, believes that Disney may very well try and strike back by changing Adventureland into Pirate land.  My opinion on that–they’re overdoing this pirates thing.  It’s really not that important to have pirates running around all over the place.  They already have a Pirates ride, let’s keep it at that and not add duplicates. 

What else could they do?  Well, there’s this franchise called “Lord of the Rings” just dying to be placed into a theme park.  I don’t know as if Lord of the Rings would be a perfect fit for Disney though.  If a deal like this were to occur, would we see this in Disney-MGM Studios?  My main problem with the whole thing would be that they would be matching a more adult-oriented franchise such as LotR with Disney’s characters…and I don’t think its a good fit.  In fact, if Universal were to announce that they also got Lord of the Rings and are placing it in Universal Studios–Disney’s really going to be in trouble.  Here’s for wishful thinking on that one.

Okay…so Lord of the Rings is out.  Pirates is overused.  What else could they try and snatch?  Marvel?  Nope….unless Marvel and Universal decide to hate each other.  But I don’t see that one happening.  Transformers?  Ah…there’s a good one.  But, honestly, that’s another one I see Universal trying to get as well.  Aside from those options–Disney really can’t find a property to use.

So what could they do in the meantime?  Well…in my opinion, there’s this area of the Magic Kingdom really needing some good enhancement.  It’s called Tomorrowland.  I don’t know who all has been to that area lately, but its turning rancid–Buzz Lightyear is good, but not as good as Dreamflight.  Stitch needs to die a most painful death, please.  Alien Encounter was so much better.  This new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor (or MILF, as Screamscape and other theme park enthusiast sites call it) is supposedly so bad that it makes Stitch look good.  Space Mountain needs a rehab.  They’re not putting any attention into what needs to be done.  I got a good idea for 2009–close Space Mountain next year, completely gut it, and put in a brand new steel-based coaster, call it Space Mountain, and open it at the same time as Harry Potter.

Will it be as effective as Harry Potter?  No, probably not.  But, it would probably help.  With Universal getting Blue Man Group (review of the show coming VERY soon), The Simpsons, and Harry Potter…Universal is now a force to be reckoned with. 

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